


Asking the obvious question

by paxbanana



Category: Pulse (Webcomic)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-21 04:53:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11936730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paxbanana/pseuds/paxbanana
Summary: Fix-it, the conversation they needed to have.





	Asking the obvious question

**Author's Note:**

> I’m incredibly annoyed by how stupid this comic is but have been intermittently catching myself up anyway. With recent developments, I found I had to write this. I don’t have access to the chapters so I can’t recall certain details. Seriously though, have a fucking conversation with your loved ones, people. [And medicine and surgery and sterile fields don’t work that way.] The solution is a bit contrived, but it's no more contrived than the source material.

Mel stared at Lynn’s back, her mind working through the words that clashed with everything she knew—about herself, Lynn, their relationship, and their feelings for each other. Lynn, who had so cheerfully and confidently stepped into her life and disrupted her numb routine; who had seduced her not with sex but with love and happiness; who whispered sweetly in her ear as she fell asleep, kissed her eyelids, and taught Mel so much about love and hope. That Lynn, the Lynn she knew and loved, would never say she had just been faking their relationship.

Mel swallowed her fear and said, “I don’t understand. Where is this coming from?”

“I’m tired of you. We never had anything real, and it’s time for both of us to wake up and move on.”

There was a catch in Lynn’s voice, a deadness that wasn’t real. If Lynn was really breaking up with her, if she really meant this, she’d be shouting out her anger, facing Mel with fire in her eyes. She wouldn’t have clung so tightly to Mel the night before. Mel stepped forward and caught Lynn’s wrist. Lynn froze, her chest catching in an obvious sob.

Whatever this was, it wasn’t because Lynn didn’t love her.

“Turn around,” Mel said gently.

“Stop it!” Lynn struggled, but Mel wrapped an arm around her chest gently, avoiding the VAD. Lynn froze, and Mel shifted her touch, afraid she’d caused pain anyway. “I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”

When Lynn burst into tears, Mel pulled her around and held her close, ignoring the VAD resting against her belly. She hushed Lynn and stroked her hair, eventually leading them both back onto the bench. “Shh. Hey, it’s okay. Tell me what’s going on. I love you, Lynn. You know that, don’t you?”

“They said you were going to lose your license!”

Mel cupped Lynn’s cheek and tipped her chin to coax her to look up. “Who said that? Did Sue talk to you?”

“Everyone! She said it and I heard some nurses in the bathroom!” Lynn wiped at her eyes childishly, her tears seeming to brighten her clear brown eyes. She had never been more beautiful.

Mel held back her laugh, understanding now why Lynn was so afraid. ‘Some nurses in the bathroom’; it was always nurses in the bathroom. “First of all:  why were you in a public bathroom?! That’s the least sterile place you can be.”

“Mel! You could lose your job because of me.”

Time to back up. Mel framed Lynn’s face in her hands. “Do you love me?”

Lynn swallowed thickly. Her eyes filled with tears again. “Yes.”

“That’s all I need.” She kissed Lynn’s forehead.

“But your job—”

“A hospital is a drama cesspool. People like to exaggerate and spread rumors. I’m okay. This will all turn out fine.”

It wasn’t so easy in reality, but Mel knew she could argue her case. With the limited available staff of their cardiothoracic surgery team, she was required to assist. They could call her out for not calling in additional support, but if this was enough to lose her license, she had little faith in the profession.

“But the director told me you could lose your license, that you should be at a larger hospital—”

Fucking Sue. “She’s lying. I’m happy where I am. Everything will be okay, and you definitely don’t need to spend any time worrying over that.”

“But it was my fault.”

“I made the decision. Don’t worry about whatever bullshit Sue will spout, okay? She’s lying, and she’s taking her anger at me out on you.”

Sue wouldn’t be around much longer to harass Lynn. Her incredible unprofessionalism couldn’t be ignored. Sue had turned down a compatible transplant without consulting with Lynn’s cardiologist, creating the need for Lynn’s VAD. That wasn’t mentioning the personal threats she’d made to Mel. Not only that, she’d falsified data that sent that heart to a donor lower on the priority list, which not only violated ethics but also put their relationship with the Organ Transplant Coordination Organization at risk. Sue barging into a sterile surgical suite without scrubs, cap, or mask on instead of using the intercom was another enormous breech.

Mel partnered with Olivia and Dr. Adams to file complaints about those scenarios, mentioning every detail, and she hoped that Sue would be put on probation immediately while the medical board considered the clear violation of ethics and medical protocol.

So Sue was done. Mel wasn’t sure if that held true for herself yet. The thing that hurt her the most was being unable to assist with Lynn’s imminent heart transplant surgery. Dr. Adams was good, but Mel worried if something unexpected happened. A good surgeon didn’t know how to do a surgery; he knew what to do when something went wrong.

Given the situation, Mel had been forced to call the only surgeon she trusted more than herself to assist as a favor to her. He would be arriving that afternoon to discuss protocol and meet Lynn. Mel was more nervous about him coming than any possible disciplinary action against her.

She tried to express that to Lynn, holding her fragile body close and taking strength that she was still here. “I can be happy without my job, Lynn. I can’t be happy without you. Now, you might have to get used to pinching pennies if I lose my salary,” she joked.

Lynn’s voice was choked with tears. “But if I’m just going to die—”

“You aren’t. You’re on the list, Lynn. You’ll get a new heart, and we’ll have a lifetime together. Let me worry about my job. You worry about staying strong and healthy. Okay?”

Lynn’s eyes filled with tears. “I don’t know what I’d do if I cost you your career.”

“You wouldn’t be the cause of that. I love you, and I’d give up a hell of a lot more than my career to be with you. Don’t let her break us apart. Please. My job means nothing without you.”

Lynn nodded slowly. Sometimes Mel forgot how young she was. Lynn had a surprising emotional maturity—at least her permanence felt like it. Now she showed her age. She couldn't hide her fear of the future anymore. Mel lifted Lynn’s legs to tug her into her lap. She rocked her, stroked her hair, and sighed into her shoulder. “I love you, Lynn. No games. This is real, and this is for forever.”

“I love you too. For life,” Lynn whispered.

A thought occurred to Mel, a tempting one. She kissed Lynn’s neck. “So let’s get married.”

“W-What?”

Mel kissed Lynn again, pulling her closer and deepening their embrace. Lynn melted into her arms, a sigh and relaxation that Mel knew so well. A year before, she would have been thinking about finding a quiet place to snatch an orgasm, but now she kissed Lynn just to kiss her. “No one is breaking us apart, Lynn. I’m not losing you. So let’s get married.”

Lynn raised one eyebrow as she looked up at Mel, apparently too perplexed to cry. “Do you really mean it?

“I don’t say things I don’t mean,” she teased.

“You’re such an idiot.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“Yeah.”

Mel heaved a sigh of relief. “Yeah?”

Lynn nodded jerkily. Mel studied her. “Up for a trip to the courthouse?”

“Now?” Lynn squeaked. “Can I even leave yet?”

Mel laughed, snuggling against Lynn’s neck. “Joking! We should get you back inside.”

Lynn caught her sleeve, looking up at Mel quietly, childish in her posture but not her expression. “I want to. Before the surgery.”

“Now?” Mel asked this time, her breath catching. She would. She wanted to. She didn’t see a reason not to. When Lynn nodded, she pulled out her phone to call a professional contact. “Hey, Wes. I want to get married.”

_“Haha, Dr. Sievers. What do you really need?”_

“I need to get married to my girlfriend. She’s hospitalized, waiting for a heart transplant.”

There was silence on the line. Then Wes said, _“I’ll be right down.”_

Wes arrived a few hours later with marriage license in hand. She met Lynn, shook her hand, and had a few unprofessional words about settling down for Mel. Nurses by that time had gathered in the hall. Someone went by a bakery for a cake and blew up half a dozen cheesy balloons that spelled out the occasion.

Renny seemed panicked when he pushed into the room, but that was nothing to the expression on his face when he realized what was really going on. Lynn’s aunt and uncle arrived within fifteen minutes, looking for all the world only pleasantly surprised. Just when Wes was about to start their impromptu ceremony, the nurses at the doorway parted.

The man in the doorway had short dark graying hair and dark eyes. He had gained a bit of weight, but he was unmistakable even without his nametag. A nurse regarded him with wide eyes. “Dr. Halton?”

He glanced at her before turning to take in Mel and Lynn sitting on the hospital bed. “You must be Lynn Wiles,” he said with a faint smile. He stepped forward and offered his hand to Lynn. “I’m Tom Halton.”

Lynn’s eyes went wide as she stared up at him. “Hello,” she said quietly.

Mel hesitated before she admitted, “Lynn, this is my father.”

Lynn’s face immediately opened in a wide smile. “Did Mel ask you to come for this?”

He glanced at Mel briefly. “Yes, of course. I’m sorry we haven’t had a chance to meet before now, but I’m glad I arrived in time.”

“Now that everyone’s here, shall we begin?” Wes cleared her throat. Mel had overheard her officiating hospital weddings on and off through the years. Though she knew all the words, they had a different gravity when they were intended for her.

“Do you, Lynn Wiles, accept this woman as your wedded wife?”

Lynn squeezed Mel’s hands. Her smile was sweet. “I do.”

“And do you, Mel Sievers, accept this woman as your wedded wife?”

“Yes. I do.” Mel kissed Lynn’s hand.

“Do you have vows prepared?”

Lynn giggled and shook her head. Mel kissed her hand again. “I promise to love you for now and always. We can get through anything together.”

“I love you too,” Lynn murmured. She teared up. “I promise to keep trying so I can give you more than today.”

Wes took a moment to gain her composure after Lynn’s words. “May I have the rings?”

Lynn shot a look of horror to Mel, but a nurse leaned over to pass two dosimeter rings—snitched from radiology—to Wes. Wes looked at the rings with wide eyes before she shook her head. She gave them each one ring, and they recited with Wes:  “I give you this ring as a physical representation of my unfailing love for you always.”

“By the power of your clear love and commitment and the power vested in me, I now pronounce you wife and wife. You may kiss your bride.”

Mel cupped Lynn’s chin and pressed a delicate kiss to her lips. Lynn blinked a few tears out. She giggled and leaned into Mel’s neck. “I guess I should never try to break up with you. Or maybe I should try more often?”

“I know you better, darling.”

After Wes left and most of the nurses dispersed, Lynn held the marriage license delicately, studying the print and signatures. She looked up at Mel, and Mel read nothing but love on her face. A firm hand fell to her shoulder, and Mel knew she needed to face the music. She leaned close to kiss Lynn again. “Rest. I’m going to talk to my father, but I’ll be back.”

“You better. I’m not sleeping alone on my wedding night.”

Outside, Tom studied the sky and smiled. “She’s saucy, I’ll give her that. How long has this been going on?”

“Six months.”

“So quickly. You must love her to put your license at risk.”

There was the disapproval Mel knew so well from her childhood. “I was one of two cardiothoracic surgeons available to scrub into that procedure.”

“It was poorly coordinated, but I’m not surprised by that given your director.”

“She falsified data to redirect a heart transplant matched to Lynn to another patient, creating the necessity for the VAD surgery in the first place.” Mel felt her lip tremble with the anger she’d tried to tap down on.

Tom rubbed his mouth. He angered rarely, but she saw anger on his face right then. “She was your lover once.”

“She cheated on me, married her husband, and we broke up. Years ago.”

“Clearly it was better for you for that to happen if this is what she’s doing now. Mel, if you hadn’t needed me to perform this transplant, would I even know about this woman—your wife?”

“I don’t know,” she said truthfully.

Her father took a long breath and nodded. “I’ll be here whenever you need, however you need me, Mel.”

Mel shoved her hands in her pockets and nodded, understanding the words he didn’t say. She understood the sacrifice he would make; he would likely be forced into retirement after this procedure performed on his daughter-in-law. “Thanks. I mean it.”

They walked back into the hospital together. It hit Mel in a nostalgic place to walk next to her father down this hallway. She’d grown up in a hospital, grown up in his shadow—one that she’d fought so hard to break herself from, so hard she’d given up on him too.

The sight of Sue standing in Lynn’s doorway put a burn of rage in her throat. The look of horror of Sue’s face as she stared at the balloons by the door wasn’t satisfying, not with Mel’s anger. Mel’s father touched her arm and stepped into the room first.

“Hello Dr. Whickers,” Tom Halton stated, stepping partly in front of the hospital bed.

“Dr. Halton,” she said as if surprised to see him. Her gaze pulled from Lynn to focus on him. Mel stepped by both of them to sit by Lynn on the bed. She took Lynn’s hand and kissed her plastic dosimeter ring. Sue’s smile turned into a snarl when she saw that. “I dropped my doctor title.”

“Part of the reason I came was to meet with you, _Doctor_ Whickers. Perhaps if we could find a private place…?”

Sue looked back at Lynn and Mel, and she seemed to calculate what she could be doing to break them apart. “I was attempting to take care of this embarrassingly unprofessional display. I’m ashamed that this was allowed in this hospital.”

“A marriage?” Tom asked calmly.

“The relationship breaks moral and ethical codes—”

Tom raised his voice loud enough to overpower Sue’s. It was a trick Mel had stifled under in her childhood, but she loved her father for using it now. “Perhaps you would prefer to do this in public then. Dr. Whickers, you are relieved of your position. As of now, you are on probation while the Board of Directors and the National Medical Board thoroughly review the evidence brought forward about your misconduct.”

“ _My_ misconduct?” Sue said, her nostrils flaring. “Mine? While Dr. Sievers knowingly performed a surgical procedure on her lover—”

“Dr. Sievers’s investigation is separate from your own, Dr. Whickers. Dr. Sievers has vowed to help as her case is processed.”

“Has she fucked you too?” Sue hissed, completely unhinged now.

Tom raised his head to study Sue down his nose, and Mel felt a chill for how well she knew that look. “Dr. Sievers is my daughter, Dr. Whickers. I will ask you once more to leave. If I have to ask you again, I will call security to escort you out of the building.”

“You can’t do this!”

“I am on the Board of Directors, sent here to relay this message, so you will find that I can. As one professional to another:  you should be ashamed of yourself. Get out now.”

Mel wondered if this was who Sue was now or if she’d always been this way. Had she always feared men this much? Sue ducked her head and obeyed without a whisper. Tom watched her go before he turned back to Mel and Lynn.

His smile was stiff. “Congratulations. Ms. Wiles, I’ll come by tomorrow to speak with you about your planned procedure. Take care and rest.”

* * *

It took three weeks for another match to be paired to Lynn. Their new medical director had no part in the decision to bring the heart via a transplant team. Given that Sue was facing possible time in prison for her handling of Lynn’s case—and settled for a large amount of money prior to civil charges being leveled—their medical director was very careful about how he handled the cardiothoracic team.

Given Sue’s involvement with Lynn’s case, Mel was given a public reprimand in lieu of probation. She was still able to practice, but she’d taken sabbatical to concentrate on Lynn’s health. She would resume practicing as soon as Lynn was stable, but it could be several more months. As Mel had predicted, her selfish request of her father was going to force him into retirement. The ethical lines around Lynn’s medical team had already been blurred enough for this to be a smear on Dr. Halton too.

“I’d do more for you,” Tom told Mel quietly the night before the transplant. “I’m not asking for anything back, Mel, but if you can find it in your heart to be my daughter again… I’d be grateful.”

If Lynn had anything to say about it, Mel would do just that. Now though, Lynn was pale and nervous, waiting the pre-op area with Mel’s hand in hers.

“Keep my rings safe,” Lynn said quietly.

The dosimeter rings were still theirs, but they’d combed through jewelry databases to choose real ones. Mel wore both of Lynn’s rings on a chain around her neck, where they rested against her heart.

“My dad is the best there is, Lynn. Don’t worry. It will all go fine. And I promise to keep your rings safe.” She patted her chest. Lynn covered Mel’s hand with her own.

“Promise me you’ll get through this. No matter what happens.”

Mel kissed Lynn’s forehead. “I promise. Now go get ‘em. I’ll see you when you wake up.”

The next five hours were the longest of Mel’s life. She waited in the surgery waiting area, at one point putting her feet up when she got lightheaded. Nurses came by at intervals to offer water or coffee, but Mel wouldn’t stomach anything. She’d never had to sit on this side of the door before, and this sucked.

Then her father stepped out from behind the OR hallway doors. He offered a slight smile. “She’s fine.” For the first time in twenty years, Mel hugged him.

It wasn’t that simple. Rejection could occur at any time, even late in recovery, and Lynn would need to be on medications for life. But if this went well, she’d have at least fifteen more years, maybe more if technology and medicine continued to advance in the next decade.

None of that mattered right then, not when Lynn woke up, saw Mel, and smiled softly.

“Hello, my love,” Mel whispered.

“Is it tomorrow?”

Mel nodded and kissed Lynn’s hand. “Yep, and we'll have plenty more.”


End file.
